There are several devices which exist that are used for the repair of aneurysms. U.S. Pat. No. 4,512,238 discloses a device for transluminal repair of, and restoring patency of, a weakened or damaged vessel uses a nitinol wire, previously memory-shaped into a straight wire and inserted into the vessel requiring repair. When placed in the body and stripped of heat insulation the wire warms and returns to a preselected coiled dimensions to support the vessel wall. One problem with this device is the difficult task of attaching a sleeve to the wire support because the wire is many times longer than the sleeve at the time it is inserted.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,140,126 discloses another device for repairing an aneurism. The device is mounted on the outside of a carrier catheter and is positioned in the vessel in a collapsed form, smaller in diameter that of the vessel. The device is then expanded onto the vessel well by the use of a separate mechanical expanding apparatus which is controlled by the user from outside the body.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,899 describes a system of positioning a graft within a body lumen. The graft is loaded into a guide which is inserted into the lumen. An inflatable balloon is used to anchor the distal end of the graft onto the wall of the lumen. The guide is then pushed upstream, pulling the folded graft out of the guide and onto the wall of the lumen where staples end anchor it into the wall of the lumen. One problem with this device is that the balloon providing the anchor for the distal end of the graft while the guide is moved upstream may not provide enough pressure on the wall of the vessel to prevent slippage which could result in misplacement of the graft.
It would be desirable to provide an aneurism patch which does not have a coil configuration and which adheres to the vessel wall adjacent to the mouth of the aneurism. It would be further desirable to provide an aneurism patch which has non-electrically activated deployed state configured to be positioned adjacent to the mouth of the aneurism. Yet it would still further desirable to provide an aneurism patch which has an electrically activated deployed state that is configured to be positioned adjacent to the mouth of the aneurism.